SEARCH PARTY
LENNIE JAMES RETURNS AS NELLY CONTINUES THE HUNT FOR HIS MISSING DAUGHTER…
IT SURPRISES NELLY THAT HE JUST CAN’T STOP LOOKING FOR JODY”
The first series of Save Me saw charming but feckless Nelson ‘Nelly’ Rowe forced to mature swiftly after he was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping his 13-year-old daughter, Jody – who he’d been estranged from for 10 years. Nelly went on a quest to find his girl and clear his name, and while he wasn’t able to track Jody down, he did manage to rescue another vulnerable young woman, Grace.
Now, over a year later, Jody still hasn’t been found, and the police’s investigation is being put on hold – so Nelly has a lot of unfinished business…
“One of the things at the heart of Jody going missing is a story of how hard it is to find redemption, and what that actually looks like,” explains Lennie James, who wrote the series and also plays Nelly.
“At the end of the first series, Nelly didn’t find and save his own child, but he did find and save someone else’s. That might have been a victory; he could’ve taken some kind of solace in it. I think it surprises him just how much he still can’t stop looking for his child.”
The repercussions of the events of series one will be felt across the board, as auctioneer Gideon (Adrian Edmondson) is put on trial for the sexual exploitation of Grace, and we’re introduced to his wife Jennifer (Lesley Manville), who’s coming to terms with her husband’s true nature.
“Once I decided to tell that side of the story, there was only ever one person I wanted to be Jennifer, but I didn’t think she’d end up playing her,” shares Lennie. “I often think of actors when I’m writing – sometimes obscure people who will never play the part! I just want the essence of them in my head when I’m writing.
“I stressed early on with Lesley’s character that she wasn’t someone who had any inkling about her husband,” he continues. “Or that she chose, whether consciously or subconsciously, not to push it or investigate it, or look in that particular corner. This is a woman who is completely
blindsided by who her husband turns out to be. I wanted to explore that.”
Whether Nelly will find the answers he’s looking for by the end of this series remains to be seen, but when it comes to the possibility of a third series, Lennie isn’t ruling it out.
“I haven’t yet got to the point where I can start writing it,’” he reveals. “But I have rough ideas. It’s much easier to come up with what a third chapter looks like for Nelly than it is for what it looks like for Nelly and the group – and at the moment, if I can’t do it with Nelly and the group, then it will just be a double-banger. I want whatever the next chapter is to live up to the previous two, and I’m still in the process of working that out…”